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Chá com Bolos
Bea's of Bloomsbury has been offering mouth-watering teatime treats in the heart of London since 2008. Everyday the layer cakes, meringues and tiers of cupcakes in the shop window entice passers-by. Now you can enjoy 'Tea with Bea' in your own home.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 24, 2012
In 2009, I was planning a trip to London with a good friend of mine, and we had everything lined up...until the company we were renting a flat for a week from called to say they were liquidating and we would have to find a new apartment. This required frantic calling and scanning of the internet advertisements, supplemented by the use of GoogleEarth to get a good sense of where some of the new locations would be and if it was in an area of London we'd like to stay. While doing this, I ran across Bea's Cakes in Bloomsbury. As we were still looking for some place to have our tea while visiting, we read the reviews and thought that would be a great place to sample, especially since it wasnt too far from the British Museum where I planned to spend a day.
The place is waaaay out of the way of the normal mainstream, but if youre a "purist" like me, you like places like that - tourista centers make me nervous - but we did have to walk a few blocks before finding a narrow little business tucked in between two larger buildings. Theobald Rd is nothing grand compared to the rest of the city, but we didnt care as we let them know we were there for our reservations and sat outside at a little table.
Oh, Lord, Id heard that scones were to be experienced in their native land, but I had no idea they could be so scrumptuous and buttery! My first bite practically melted in my mouth and I almost forgot the little sampler of brownies and cupcakes that went with our reservation. Suffice it to say, the reviews we read were so right!
We tried one more time before leaving London to visit Bea's but had to be turned away because we did not have reservations, but that did not stop us from purchasing a few more delectables to enjoy back at our flat, INCLUDING more scones. I wish I could have brought some home with me. I wanted to share with my family so much. I knew from the first bite I would never see Starbucks scones the same way again.
So imagine our delight when it was announced that Bea was going to publish a book with her recipes included - before we even got our question out, we were told, yes, the scone recipe would be included. It was a long wait, and now its here: a beautiful slim book with wonderful photography - what you see is what we saw when we were there in that little bakery - and wonderful instructions on how to recreate her most popular items.
CANNOT wait to try the scone recipe for myself...
The place is waaaay out of the way of the normal mainstream, but if youre a "purist" like me, you like places like that - tourista centers make me nervous - but we did have to walk a few blocks before finding a narrow little business tucked in between two larger buildings. Theobald Rd is nothing grand compared to the rest of the city, but we didnt care as we let them know we were there for our reservations and sat outside at a little table.
Oh, Lord, Id heard that scones were to be experienced in their native land, but I had no idea they could be so scrumptuous and buttery! My first bite practically melted in my mouth and I almost forgot the little sampler of brownies and cupcakes that went with our reservation. Suffice it to say, the reviews we read were so right!
We tried one more time before leaving London to visit Bea's but had to be turned away because we did not have reservations, but that did not stop us from purchasing a few more delectables to enjoy back at our flat, INCLUDING more scones. I wish I could have brought some home with me. I wanted to share with my family so much. I knew from the first bite I would never see Starbucks scones the same way again.
So imagine our delight when it was announced that Bea was going to publish a book with her recipes included - before we even got our question out, we were told, yes, the scone recipe would be included. It was a long wait, and now its here: a beautiful slim book with wonderful photography - what you see is what we saw when we were there in that little bakery - and wonderful instructions on how to recreate her most popular items.
CANNOT wait to try the scone recipe for myself...
February 10, 2015
This is a lovely book, beautiful photographs and I think, easy to follow recipes. One recipe I want to try is ' Gingerbread Guinness cupcakes' they look amazing , and I have only ever used Guinness when I make a steak pie ! So should be interesting.
The only negative thing I have to say is that most of the recipes do have a lot of ingredients, but as long as you make a list, and take your list with you before you bake everything should come up smelling roses !
The only negative thing I have to say is that most of the recipes do have a lot of ingredients, but as long as you make a list, and take your list with you before you bake everything should come up smelling roses !
December 9, 2019
I'm not great at baking, but I love this book! It's worth noting that I usually cut down the amount of sugar though, since the recipes are very sweet.
January 25, 2012
I haven't made a single thing from this cookbook yet, so I can't vouch for any of the recipes, but I will attest to the fact that this is high-quality "cake porn." The photographs are incredibly glossy and gooey; serious, serious butter and sugar content here. There are also some really good tips (and explanations for why you follow certain rules in baking) in this book. I've read enough baking books -- and baked enough myself -- to suggest that you can probably trust Bea's advice.
However, this is seriously over-the-top stuff -- vying only with Rebecca Rather's, in my humble experience and opinion. I may drool over it more than I actually bake from it . . . especially since I can visit Bea's in Bloomsbury and sample many of these specialities. (Probably best to restrict oneself to a single serving.) I will be trying the snickerdoodles SOON, though. (Bea, like me, is an American/English hybrid.)
However, this is seriously over-the-top stuff -- vying only with Rebecca Rather's, in my humble experience and opinion. I may drool over it more than I actually bake from it . . . especially since I can visit Bea's in Bloomsbury and sample many of these specialities. (Probably best to restrict oneself to a single serving.) I will be trying the snickerdoodles SOON, though. (Bea, like me, is an American/English hybrid.)
May 8, 2013
These recipes look AMAZING! I cannot wait to start cooking them.
Update on May 8, 2013:
Baked the Blueberry Streusel Muffins this morning and I'm updating this review over the crumbs. I'll start with the complaint- so much streusel. How is this a complaint?? SO MUCH! There isn't enough muffin batter to go around. The solution: double the muffin recipe so that there is enough batter to go around. Now, the praise. I LOVE the amount of blueberries in this recipe. It is packed full of juicy berries and it makes for a really well rounded muffin. I hate when you bite into a muffin and you never see the fruit...you definitely don't have that here. These are sweet, crunchy topped, juicy muffins that even the author says need to be devoured right out of the oven. So we slathered them in butter and enjoyed them with coffee. So delicious. Makes me really excited for the next recipe.
Update on May 8, 2013:
Baked the Blueberry Streusel Muffins this morning and I'm updating this review over the crumbs. I'll start with the complaint- so much streusel. How is this a complaint?? SO MUCH! There isn't enough muffin batter to go around. The solution: double the muffin recipe so that there is enough batter to go around. Now, the praise. I LOVE the amount of blueberries in this recipe. It is packed full of juicy berries and it makes for a really well rounded muffin. I hate when you bite into a muffin and you never see the fruit...you definitely don't have that here. These are sweet, crunchy topped, juicy muffins that even the author says need to be devoured right out of the oven. So we slathered them in butter and enjoyed them with coffee. So delicious. Makes me really excited for the next recipe.
June 13, 2017
This is a lovely book. The author has a friendly writing voice and the photographs of the desserts are beautiful. For me, it just wasn't to my taste. I mean that literally-- after a very labor-intensive recipe, the results of my efforts were PAINFULLY SWEET. Not bad, just way out of my range. I don't have a huge sweet tooth (I prefer fruit tarts and shortcake to double-chocolate cake and cookies) and I didn't really want to dive into another recipe like that one. I can see why these desserts are served with tea and coffee! I might get this book from the library again if I wanted an impressive dessert for a party (like the Guinness chocolate cake), but for now I'll probably stick to other recipes. But if you're a sugar fiend baker, this will be a great book for you! Just make sure to brush your teeth extra afterwards. ;)
October 14, 2015
some interesting recipes, but I think I've gotten used to a better writeup on why the bake is good or what it means to the author instead of mainly simple descriptions of what it comprises, which does not interest me to bake something. another peeve is that it does not tell me how long certain bakes can be kept. I've been spoilt by Dorie Greenspan's writing :)
November 18, 2011
Gorgeous, just Gorgeous! Want to eat everything in here! Especially the raspberry meringues, vanilla coconut cake with lemon curd and cheesecake filling and the Gingerbread Guinness cake with poached pears and cream cheese icing. I'm drooling.
January 16, 2012
awesome! i made the coconut cream pie and it was amazing!
February 23, 2012
I wish I could taste everything! The photography is as appealing as the recipe collection. Lucious book.
November 21, 2012
Sumptuous recipes beautifully illustrated.
December 29, 2014
The full page photographs are really great
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews